Posts Tagged pandemic

Retailers noted that these new customers were spending $595 on an average sale and that 40 percent of first-time gun buyers in the first four months of 2020 were female. The main purchase driver among the group was personal protection, followed by target shooting and hunting. Also of note was that 25 percent of first-time buyers had already taken some form of firearms safety course and 63 percent inquired about taking a firearms safety course in the near future.

Scott Kane went 38 years without ever touching a gun. That streak would have continued had it not been for the coronavirus. In March, fearful of the harassment his wife and child experienced over their Asian ancestry, Kane found himself in a California gun shop. His March 11 purchase of a 9mm would have been the end of the story, were it not for a political standoff over shutdown orders and background checks. Now Kane, a former supporter of gun-control measures and AR-15 bans, is frustrated by the arduous process that has denied his family a sense of security. The pandemic has made the soft-spoken software engineer an unlikely Second Amendment supporter.

The Imam of Peace, Imam Tawhidi, has been locked out of Twitter for ridiculing an Islamic extremist organization. On April 2, Tawhidi posted a meme that took aim at Tablighi Jamaat, a group based in India that is tied to Al-Qaeda terrorists. The cartoon Tawhidi posted shows a man wearing a suicide bomb on the left panel, and that same man wearing a bomb of coronavirus particles on the right side. Tawhidi was asked to remove this image or suffer permanent Twitter account deactivation. He has declined to remove the tweet.

The American character does not like authority. A nation born in rebellion, a country founded by exiles and a people possessed with a pioneer spirit do not respond well to dictates on their movements. It goes against everything that’s American.

With emergency orders ranging from a ban on motorized watercraft to a prohibition on the sale of infant and child car seats (both are apparently non-essential), the Wolverine State’s chief executive has ticked off plenty of everyday people who don’t normally concern themselves with politics.

“To me, it’s all about protecting my family, and if a gun makes that easier, so be it,” Scott, a California tech worker with a wife and daughter, said. Many of the new gun owners cited concerns about personal protection as states began emptying jail cells and police departments announced they would no longer enforce certain laws. Jake Wilhelm, a Virginia-based environmental consultant and lacrosse coach, purchased a Sig Sauer P226 after seeing Italy enact a nationwide lockdown on March 9.

Americans are lining up at local gun shops taking stock of their safety concerns and stocking up on guns and ammunition. It’s showing that firearms continue to be a desired item and Americans are serious about providing for their safety – especially during times of uncertainty. FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) told NSSF background check traffic saw a 300 percent increase on Monday, March 16, compared to the same day in 2019. Daily volumes are roughly double what they were a year ago.